Hydrant-wrench.



W. C. BRIGHTLY.

HYDRANT WRENCH.

APPLICATION FILED DEC? 18. 1913.

Patented Dec. 10, 1918.

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To all whom itmay concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM C. BRIGHTLY, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Englewood, in the county of Bergen and State of New Jersey, have invented a newand Improved Hydrant-Wrench, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to a hydrant wrench, particularly of the self-adjusting type that is especially adapted for use by firemen to remove the caps of fire plugs and operate the valves thereof, although of course the invention can be adapted for other uses.

The invention has for its general objects, to improve and simplify the construction and operation of wrenches of the character referred to so as to be reliable and efficient in use, comparatively inexpensive to manufacture, and so designed as to be easily and quickly applied to or removed from a nut and to be self-adjusting thereto as the wrench is turned to screw or unscrew the nut or equivalent part.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a wrench having a novel arrangement of head and nut encircling element pivotally mounted thereon in such a manner that the element and head will tightly grip the nut to be screwed or unscrewed, the gripping or releasing of the nut being effected by a slight turning movement of the handle or element.

With such objects in view, and others which will appear as the description proceeds, the invention comprises various novel features of construction and arrangement of parts, such as will be set forth with particularity in the following description and claims appended hereto.

In the accompanying drawing which illustrates certain embodiments of the invention, and wherein similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the views,

Figure 1 is a wrench;

Fig. 2 is aside view thereof;

Fig. 3 is a view of the wrench with the nut embracin element shown in different positions by ull and broken lines to illustrate its use with nuts of different sizes; and

Fig. 4 is a sectional view showing a modified form of wrench.

Referring to the drawing, 1 designates the handle of the wrench; 2 the head thereof,

perspective view of the Specification of Letters Patent, Patented Dec. 10, 1918. Application filed December 18, 1918. 1 Serial No. 867,425. I

and 3 the nut embracing element. The head is composed of two spaced fiat members a and a between'whichthe flattened portion disposed walls or surfaces 6 for engagement with two adjacent sides of the nut to be screwed or. unscrewed. The portion of the element 3 where these walls 6 are located is widened so as to be in total width equal to or practically the same as the width of the head 2 in a direction parallel with the pivot 4. The pivot 4 is located atone side of the center line of the element 3, and the ivot is also eccentric to the curved surfaces of the members a and a of the head, such surfaces 7 serving to engage the opposite side of the nut from the side with which the surfaces 6 engage. In the present instance the wrench is shown as suitable for pentagonal nuts, but it is to be understood that the opening in the element 3 can be so formed thatthe wrench can be used on other non-parallel sided polygonal nuts.

In using the wrench the element 3' is thrown in such a'direction that its center line will be at the side of the center line of the handle on which the pivot 4 is located; or in other words, when the parts are in the position shown in-Fig. 3, ,the element 3- will be thrown to the left, so that a nut can be engaged ,in the opening 5 of the element 3. When this engagement is effected the handle 1 is moved in an anti-clockwise direction so i as to bring the surfaces 7 of the head members of the handle into engagement with the nut, as clearly shown by the full lines, Fig. 3. The surfaces 7 of the two members a and a may be so curved that nuts of dif-.

ferent sizes can be gripped by the wrench, as indicated by the dotted and full lines, Fig. 3. If it is assumed that the wrench in Fig. 3 is in the operation of unscrewing a nut, it is to be understood that in order to 4 and the member 3'will have slots 5" and 5 through which the said pivots respectively pass. Thus, when a nut such as the pentaganti-clockwise rotation of the handle thepivot 4', becomes the fulcrum upon which the handle rotates for the purpose of forcin two adjacent, sides of a non-parallel side polygonal nut, (such as shown at 8) against the two adjacent walls or surfaces 6 ofthe nut embracing element 3. On the other hand if, without removing the wrench from the nut 8, the handle were rotated in a clockwise direction the pivot 45 would become the fulcrum and the nut would be forced against the two'surfaces 6, as before, and would be turned in the direction of the handle movement.

The usual practice in opening fire plugs and hydrant valves is to use a box or socket type of wrench, which, through its necessary operative looseness quickly injures the cor- Wnersoof the hydrant nut and becomes a dangerouslimplement. With the present invention two adjacent sides of the hydrant nut are pressed firmly against corresponding surfaces at the same angle to each other, as the adjacent sides of the nut, thus preventing any injury to the nut even when the valve is cemented to its seat through deposits, corrosion or jamming. The pressure exerted by the handle head against the nut for the purpose of forcing the two adjacent sides into firm continuous contact with the surfaces of the nut embracing element is always proportional to the resistance of the nut to turning; thus insuring the faces and corners of the nut against injury.

From the foregoing description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings,

the advantages of the construction and method'of operation will be readily understood by those skilled in the art to which the invention appertains, and while I have angle adapted to. engage two adj acent'sides of a polygonal nut said nut embracing element bein pivoted to said head eccentrically thereof, t e periphery of the head always contacting with the face of the nut substantially diametrically opposite the reentrant angle forcing the nut toward this point when the handle is turned in either direction.

'2. A wrench, comprisin a handle'with a nut embracing element s 0t and pin connected at two points to the head thereof; the nut embracing element being adapted to engage two ad acent sides of a non-parallel sided polygonal nut, the handle head contacting with a side of the nut diametrically opposite the junction of the aforesaid adjacent sides and adapted to force the nut toward this point when the handle is rotated in either direction.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

WILLIAM C. BRIGHTLY.

Witnesses:

FRANK A. HENRICI, HARRY BENNE'IT. 

